Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr
|term_end =2011 |predecessor =Kingdom of Libya Council of Ministers - Defence |successor =incumbent |birth_date =1952 |birth_place =Jalu, Italian Libya |death_date =20 October 2011 (aged 69) |death_place =Sirte, Libya |resting_place =Libyan Desert }} Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr (Arabic: أبو بكر يونس جابر ; 1942 – 20 October 2011) was the Libyan Minister of Defence under the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. His official position was Secretary of the Libyan General Interim Committee for Defence. Early life and education There is disagreement about the year of Jabr's birth. According to the UN he was born in 1952 in Jalu, Libya. The German newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung gives the much earlier date of 1940. Educated at the Military Academy in Benghazi, Jabr shared classes with the young Muammar Gaddafi. Career Later Gaddafi and Jabr became members of the Free Officers Movement which on 1 September 1969 removed King Idris from power in a bloodless coup and brought Gaddafi to power. Jabr has been head of the Libyan Army since the 1970s and was one of the original members of the 12 army officials of the Revolutionary Command Council led by Gaddafi. Libyan civil war Jabr was reported to be under arrest and in prison for not obeying orders to kill protesters. It was reported on 7 June 2011 that Jabr was executed by Gaddafi for refusing to carry out orders to kill protesters. On 13 June, Libyan state television showed footage of him for the first time, in what they claim was him greeting soldiers at the frontline in the oil town of Brega. On 2 August, The Washington Post wrote that on Libyan state television, Gaddafi’s defense minister, Jabr, announced that members of the army who defected to join the rebels and returned to the regime would be protected by a general pardon. Death Jabr died in the Battle of Sirte. On 20 October 2011, Al Jazeera reported that Jabr was killed in Sirte. He was in a car convoy with Gaddafi trying to flee from the Siege of Sirte. After the convoy was attacked by NATO aircraft he sought shelter from shrapnel in drain pipes with Gaddafi. NTC fighters captured him and Gaddafi. Yunis Jabr was with a group of Gaddafi loyalists, when a guard saw a group of rebels approaching them, off in the distance. He then threw a grenade at them. However, the grenade then bounced off of a concrete wall, and landed back in front of them. The guard then attempted to pick the grenade up, but when he did so, it exploded, killing both the guard and Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr. Witnesses say that Yunis Jabr then died, on his way to a hospital. Abdul Hakim Al Jalil, commander of the NTC's 11th brigade, later showed a photo of Jabr's dead body to Reuters. Al Jazeera also aired footage of his body being driven away in an ambulance. In January 2012, footage of Jabr's body being abused and spray painted by rebels appeared on YouTube. References See also * General People's Committee of Libya Category:1952 births Category:2011 deaths Category:Libyan generals Category:People of the Libyan Civil War (2011) Category:Libyan military personnel killed in action Category:Libyan politicians